Once she was outside one look at Amber’s face told Barnaby all that he needed to know and he sighed as he swiped the hair from his forehead.

‘Mr Hackett wants to know what you want him to do wi’ her body,’ she told him and after standing and thinking about it for a few moments he nodded and strode into the parlour, leaving Amber to clamber back into the carriage.

‘I’m going to ask Louisa’s parents if she might be buried as close to Louisa as possible in Pickering,’ he told her when he came back out. ‘I think it’s what both Louisa and herself would have wanted. She was more like a mother to her than a nanny and a maid. But I shall have to speak to them first before I can give Mr Hackett the decision.’

Amber thought that would be the right thing to do, although she didn’t feel that it was her place to comment and so the journey back to Greenacres was made in silence.

‘Er . . . thank you for doing that for me,’ he said awkwardly when they entered the house again and with a stiff nod Amber hurried back to the nursery.

Later that afternoon, Mr Hackett delivered the young mistress’s coffin and she was transferred from her bedroom down to the drawing room where friends could come and say their last goodbyes to her before she started her final journey to Pickering the next day.

‘The Hamilton-Tates have agreed to take Tumble, Louisa’s dog, to end his days wi’ them, an’ they’ve also agreed that Ruffy can be buried close by to the mistress in the churchyard where they ’ave their family plot,’ Nancy informed them when she popped up to the nursery after finishing her jobs that day. ‘They weren’t too keen on the idea from what we can all gather but the master put ’is foot down apparently an’ told ’em it would ’ave been what the mistress wanted. Mr Hackett is takin’ ’er to Pickerin’. It’s funny, though . . . the way Ruffy died, I mean. What would she ’ave been doin’ down at the ’arbour in the middle o’ the night, eh?’

‘We’ll never know,’ Amber said stoically and the subject was dropped, although speculation on what had happened would provide a source of gossip in the town for many months to come.

The following morning the Hamilton-Tates and Barnaby set off, with Louisa’s body following in a hearse close behind them, but not before Barnaby had been to see Charlotte to say his goodbyes.

‘Daddy will be back very soon,’ he promised as he cuddled her to him and once again Amber almost felt sorry for him, although she was careful not to show it.

‘So ’ow long do you think he’ll be gone?’ Becky said as they watched the sad procession wend its way down the drive.